Bell's Two Hearted is MLive's Beer of the Year

Photo courtesy of Bell's Brewing, used with permission. Two Hearted on the canning line Oct. 25 2017.

BY AMY SHERMAN | asherma2@mlive.com and JOHN GONZALEZ | michigangonzo@mlive.com

It's loaded with Centennial hops, is named after a river located in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, and is the brewery's best selling beer. It is also our Michigan's Best pick for Beer of the Year 2018, and it is the one and only Bell's Brewery Two Hearted Ale.

For the past couple of years, John Gonzalez and I have gone through our beer tasting notes from the previous 12 months, and named a beer of the year. The first year, we made individual picks from Batch Brewing (Amy) and Stormcloud Brewing (Gonzo). In 2017, we agreed that one beer, M-43 from Old Nation Brewing, stood out from all others in Michigan for a variety of reasons. This year, we once again agreed that one brew reigned supreme in the mitten. It's not a new release, but an old favorite that has reached new levels of popularity and accessibility all over Michigan, and makes a statement about the status of Michigan craft beer right now.

The very first version of Two Hearted was originally brewed up by the Kalamazoo based Bell's in 1990, which makes our Beer of the Year totally legal, and not exactly the new kid on the block. So what made us pick this brew as our top beer of 2018? Read on to find out.

Photo courtesy of Bell's Brewing, used with permission.

Bell's Brewery owner Larry Bell got his start homebrewing, after a stint working at Sarkozy Bakery while a student at Kalamazoo College. Baking introduced Bell to the wonders of yeast and fermentation, and he started making his own brews. He then opened up a homebrew supply store, and sold his first official commercial beer in 1985. He and his team slowly grew the brewery over the next few years, distributing about 500 barrels a year around Michigan.

Fast forward to today, and the brewery now has a massive production space in Comstock, an expanded Eccentric Cafe in downtown Kalamazoo, and a sister brewery, Upper Hand Brewery located in Escanaba in the Upper Peninsula. Bell's is now the largest independently owned craft brewery in Michigan, brewing upwards of 500,000 barrels of beer a year and distributing not just in the mitten, but across the country to 40 different states, plus Washington D.C. and Puerto Rico.